Okay, let's see... I'll post two other boards from back in the day-- and why all the rules gave me a headache:
1st board:
Note: Any recent updates to these rules and guidelines will be shown in blue.
Hi everyone, and welcome to ! We want your posting experience here to be an enjoyable one, so we’ve set rules and guidelines for the discussion forums on this website. We’ve divided these rules and guidelines into specific areas:
Basic Membership:
No advertisement posts or threads are allowed on our forums. Solicitation of any kind, including direct linking to events such as charity auctions, is not permitted unless it’s pre-approved by the Management Team. Posters engaging in this type of behavior will lose their membership rights and be removed. If you notice that anyone is posting this type of spam in the forums, please report them here.
Direct links to illegal television episode or music download websites are not permitted. The purpose of threads for television shows or music from those shows is to discuss those shows or that music, and they’re not meant to be used as a means to illegally download television episodes or songs.
Be respectful. Not everyone is going to agree with you at all times. It’s perfectly fine to disagree with someone as long as it is done respectfully, but do not attack other posters. Please treat other members with the same respect and courtesy that you would want for yourself.
Don’t register multiple accounts here. Using multiple accounts here can result in the loss of posting privileges for all of your registered accounts.
Anti thread titles should be respectful, related to the show, and only directed at the fictional characters or couples. Anything considered by management to be derogatory towards real people will be removed and may warrant an infraction.
Avatars and signatures that are designed to put down any fictional character or couple or their fans or which make any kind of threatening remark are not permitted, because they can be seen all over Fan Forum and they take away from the positive posting atmosphere that we strive for here.
Note: Failure to adhere to the above rules can result in the loss of your posting privileges. Rule infractions may result in warnings or points assigned to members’ accounts at the discretion of the Moderator Managers and Website Administrator. Members who accumulate too many points will be automatically banned according to the following levels:
3 Points = 3 day ban
4 Points = 7 day ban
5 Points = 2 week ban
6 Points = Permanent ban
Conflict Resolution:
If you have a problem with anything or any person at Fan Forum, don’t deal with it on the forums here. Please send a Private Message (PM) to a Moderator or a Moderator Manager describing the problem, and they’ll work with you to try and get the problem resolved.
If you have a problem with a moderator on one of the boards that you post on, send a Private Message to a Moderator Manager describing the problem. Do not contact one of the co-moderators of the moderator that you’re having problems with, as it’s the Moderator Managers’ responsibility to resolve disputes between members and moderators in a fair and impartial way. You can also send a Private Message to the person that you’re having a problem with directly if you do not want to involve the Fan Forum staff.
Posting Etiquette:
Fan Forum is considered to be a PG-13 forum community, so please keep that in mind when posting here.
Before starting a new thread, please look to see if there already is a topic discussing the same thing. Duplicate threads will be closed down. Also, please make sure your thread title accurately reflects what the thread is about.
Keep “chatting” type conversations down to a minimum on the discussion threads on our forums, as they detract from legitimate discussions. Every forum on this website has an off topic thread where you can chat with your fellow posters, so use those threads for that purpose.
Do not post in all caps, as it’s considered Internet lingo for yelling. If a thread title or post is typed in all caps, it will be edited or deleted. dO nOt PoSt LiKe THiS, eItHEr (this is also known as sticky caps). Also, don’t abuse the privilege of being able to post using different font sizes and colors, or your post will also be edited or deleted.
Do not bump threads, or post solely to increase your post count. This is called “star posting,” and doing it can result in the loss of posting privileges. Also, don’t post sequentially on a thread (meaning don’t post right after yourself) just edit your first post if you have something to add to what you originally said.
When a continuation thread has reached 300 posts, please start a new thread.
Posting Pictures:
Do not post the same picture or avatar (icon) over and over in a thread. Also, do not quote pictures or avatars (icons) - if you quote someone, please edit out the image before submitting your reply. If you don’t follow these rules, your picture(s) or avatar(s) (icon(s)) will be deleted.
Please note that when you post pictures directly from another website, (also known as hot linking) you’re basically using that website’s bandwidth. Every time someone at Fan Forum views the picture on our forums, the owner of the website that hosts the image gets charged for bandwidth use. This is known as “bandwidth theft.” We would prefer it if you would post a text link to the picture using the [ url ] tag instead of displaying the picture in a post using the [ img ] tag, because then the owner of the website only gets charged for bandwidth use if people click on the link.
We do not authorize posting or linking to copyrighted pictures, and if we discover that anyone has posted copyrighted pictures, those pictures will be removed.
Please don’t post pictures any wider than 800 pixels so you don’t stretch the post table. In consideration of members on dial-up, please post links to larger pictures (also known as HQ pictures) or post thumbnails of those pictures.
Please respect people’s privacy and don’t post any celebrity pictures from private sources. This includes fan art (manipulations, wallpapers, avatars etc.) made from such pictures.
Please be aware that the message boards here are public forums, so if you post pictures of yourself or any other personal information on these forums, that information can be viewed and copied anywhere on the Internet.
Questions and Information:
We have an Info Center Forum where members can go for help and support, so please take any questions you have about how the boards work there.
There is a thread on the Info Center Forum called Index & Introductions that is very helpful to new members, and we also have a Questions thread on that forum where you can find out information about this website and your account here.
Fan Fiction:
You can directly post fan fiction and open threads to discuss fan fiction on the individual message boards here.
You can link to Fan Fiction websites, but you can’t link to other Fan Fiction message boards.
Spoilers:
No spoilers about any new or current television shows are allowed on the television show forums, and they should only be posted on the Spoilers Forum. Information is considered to be a spoiler if it details something that has not yet been broadcast anywhere in the world. Promos that have aired on television anywhere in the world or are from general promotional material at official websites and/or aired on places like YouTube are not considered to be spoilers, but extended sneak peaks which give away a lot of information about an upcoming episode are considered to be spoilers.
Spoilers are allowed on the Male and Female Celebrity Forums as long as the spoilers are limited to information about the character that the actor or actress is playing on the television show that they’re on, and they’re not about the overall show. Spoilers on these forums should only be posted to discuss the upcoming work of the actor or actress, and they must be posted in separate topics and be clearly identified with the word Spoiler in the title.
Spoiler threads for upcoming movies are permitted on the Movies forum or on forums that are devoted to a movie franchise, as long as they’re clearly identified with the word Spoiler in the title.
Spoilers should not be discussed on the general threads on these forums, and posters should not post icons, animations, videos, or links to anything related to a new movie in any thread other than the thread that’s been designated by the moderators as the place to discuss that movie.
Spoilers for new books can be discussed on the Books Forum prior to the official release of the book as long as the threads that discuss those books are clearly identified with the word Spoiler in the title. After the book has been officially released, the word Spoiler can be removed from the title.
Pictures
Pictures from promos that have aired on television, been shown at the movie theatre, or are from general promotional material at official websites and/or aired on places like YouTube or published in magazines are not considered to be spoilers.
Pictures of clips, episode stills and filming pictures of scenes from an upcoming episode or movie that are available on the Internet and have not been aired on television or have not been shown at the movie theatre before the movie is released are considered to be spoilerish, and they should only be posted in designated threads for the upcoming episode or movie.
Avatars
Avatars made from promos that have already aired on television, been shown at the movie theatre, or are from general promotional material at official websites and/or aired on places like YouTube or published in magazines are not considered to be spoilers.
Avatars made from sources other than the ones mentioned above should not be used until after the episode airs or until the movie is released, because avatars can be seen all over Fan Forum, and we want to respect the wishes of members that don’t want to see any spoilers for an upcoming episode or movie.
Signatures:
You may use normal font options like bolding, italics and colors, but the largest font size allowed in a signature is Size 3.
The only thing allowed in a signature other than text are Fan Forum smilies, up to a maximum of four.
Links to other websites are fine, but direct links to other message boards are not allowed.
Signature blocks should be no taller than a 100 X 100 avatar.
Members can check each forum to see if they have any rules in addition to the site-wide rules listed here, and please contact the forum moderators if you have any questions about those additional rules.
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2nd board:
These rules are subject to change. We encourage you to check this post frequently for any changes.
If you are new to the Message Boards please visit our Newcomers Center. Introduce yourself and post on our adoption thread to be paired with a MediaBlvd veteran poster who will show around our community.
Before posting on MediaBlvd forums, please read and abide by the Forum-wide rules detailed below:
1. No ‘bashing’ of other posters. Disagree with the post, not the poster. Rude and disrespectful behaviour is not acceptable. Either politely disagree with an opinion posted, giving your reasons, or take disagreements to Private Message, do not use the public boards to argue.
2. Do not use profanity. Board filters will replace certain words with ***. Do not use typing fixes to circumvent these filters. Find another way to express yourself.
3. Do not post pornographic pictures, or link to pornographic sites. Do not post explicit sexual stories or comments. The moderator of a forum, the mod consultants, and owners shall have the subjective decision of what constitutes pornographic or sexually explicit.
4. Do not post copyrighted pictures, or hotlink (post embedded pictures) pictures from other sites without permission. Instead, provide a link to the site hosting the picture of interest.
5. Images in a signature line should not exceed 100x500 pixels in total. This equates to no more than five 100x100 pictures (the same size as the avatars) side by side.
Where text is also used in a signature, this should not consist of long lists. No more than 2 lines of small-font text under a banner of 100pix height should be used. If no banner is used, the height of the text (plus spaces) should not exceed the equivalent of a 100 pixel high banner.
6. Some threads/boards have specific rules. (eg, a ‘no pictures’ thread, or an agreement not to discuss the private life of an actor). Respect these rules – they are there for a reason. If you disagree with these rules or reasons, please contact a Director stating your concerns.
7. Keep “Off Topic” chat to threads specifically allowing this. Keep other threads On Topic as much as possible.
8. Respect the moderators of the board. Listen and follow their instructions and requests regarding rules. Rude and disrespectful behaviour towards a moderator is not acceptable.
9. Do not start a new topic on a board until you have checked that there isn’t already a current thread open for the subject.
10. Do not post links to other (non-MediaBlvd) message boards.
11. Do not use the forums to advertise goods for sale.
12. Do not post pictures or links to pictures hosted on pay-per-click sites.
13. Do not post links for, or otherwise discuss, illegal downloading, file sharing, peer-to-peer software and methods of copyright infringement.
14. Do not post, or otherwise discuss, the contents of Private Messages (PMs) on the open boards.
15. Do not post spoilers anywhere other than designated 'spoiler threads' without using the spoiler tags provided (to hide your words from all who don't wish to read them).
A spoiler is defined as anything that has not aired anywhere in the world. Once a TV show has aired somewhere (whether in the USA, UK or anywhere) it is no longer considered a spoiler.
Okay, I think that's it. No disrespect to either board by this... but it was the reason I made this board... w/o any of that! I just personally wouldn't even know where to start or what to post.
And in over 12 years, I gotta say- we've never edited or deleted any post and we've never banned anyone either. Honestly, we've had very little problems - except with other message boards who for whatever reason or another just don't like us.